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The Sharks Foundation Donates $176,000

by
Staff Writer
/ San Jose Sharks

San Jose Sharks President and Chief Executive Officer Greg Jamison announced today that The Sharks Foundation will donate grants totaling $176,000 to its 2005-06 beneficiaries. Over the next few months, representatives from The Sharks Foundation, with assistance from San Jose Sharks loveable mascot S.J. Sharkie, will make the donations to each beneficiary.

The Sharks Foundation board selected these twelve beneficiaries from more than one hundred grant applications that were submitted last Fall. The selected organizations all met the criteria set forth by The Sharks Foundation which states that the organization must be classified as 501(C)3, located in Santa Clara County and offer programs that support local youth.

“The Sharks Foundation is proud to support these fine organizations as they work to improve the lives of youth in our community,” said Greg Jamison, President and Chief Executive Officer for the San Jose Sharks. “We would like to thank them for all that they do and are honored to assist in their efforts.”

The Sharks Foundation was established in 1994 to meet the educational, social, and cultural needs of our community. The Sharks Foundation offers unique resources and financial assistance to organizations to enhance the lives of local youth. The Sharks Foundation is committed to supporting Santa Clara County youth and other community activities.

Attached is a summary of each beneficiary selected by The Sharks Foundation for 2005-06.

The Sharks Foundation Beneficiaries 2005-06 Season

California Highway Patrol 11-99 Foundation This foundation’s mission is to serve CHP officers families in time of financial crisis due to unforeseen circumstances, often an officer’s death in the line of duty. The Sharks Foundation funding assists in alleviating the financial burden associated with higher education and will be disbursed in the form of scholarships for CHP children and spouses in Santa Clara County and the greater Bay Area hoping to further their education. For more information, please visit www.chp1199.org.

Greater San Jose After School All-Stars The mission of ASAS is to provide comprehensive out-of-school programs that keep children safe and help them achieve in school and life. The Sharks Foundation funding benefits their Middle School Sports League in San Jose, which provides various sports clinics and competitions, as wells as after-school Homework Centers and opportunities for family involvement. Students can gain recreational opportunities, academic support, social development, and positive relationships with supportive adults. For more information, please visit www.afterschoolallstars.org.

Loaves & Fishes Family Kitchen Loaves & Fishes is committed to providing nutritious meals and support services in a dignified, safe and caring environment to all needy individuals in Santa Clara County, with a special concern for families and senior citizens. The Sharks Foundation funding supports their hot meals and food basket programs, as well as provide for a Community Services Coordinator who will insure that families are not only provided food, but also provided extensive information and referral services to housing, health, emergency and child care resources. For more information, please visit www.loavesfishes.org.

MayView Community Health Center MayView’s mission is to provide high quality healthcare to people from all culture and ethnic backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. Recognizing that people are being identified as obese at a younger ages than ever before, funding from The Sharks Foundation will be used to initiate a weight management program for children. Through special referrals, children and their families will participate in a series of weekly sessions with medical professionals aimed at increasing their physical activity and improving nutrition. For more information, please visit www.mayview.org.

Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence Next Door’s goal is to end domestic violence by providing prevention and intervention services to women, men, children and teens in Santa Clara County. The Sharks Foundation’s grant specifically assists their Children’s Program, which seeks to increase the self esteem and sense of independence for children who have experienced domestic violence. By providing children with emotional and behavioral counseling, as well as appropriate academic and educational enrichment activities to supplement their school curriculum, Next Door hopes to offer healthy alternatives to risky behavior associated with this population of youth. For more information, please visit www.nextdoor.org.

San Jose Downtown Foundation SJDF promotes cultural diversity and awareness through the arts for San Jose and Santa Clara County residents. The Sharks Foundation aids the Downtown Doors program, which offers high school students and opportunity to demonstrate their artistic ability and showcase their craftsmanship within the community. Students submit their works of art and those selected then have their pieces digitized, enlarged and mounted on blank utility doors of highly visible buildings to be enjoyed by the thousands of people who live, work and visit the downtown area. For more information, please visit www.sjdowntown.com.

Santa Clara County Office of Education/Head Start Program Head Start is committed to the delivery of comprehensive child development education, nutrition, health and social services that enrich the lives of low income children and families. The Sharks Foundation funding assists Head Start’s preschool soccer program, which aims to combat childhood obesity while increasing parental involvement, with a special emphasis on reaching out to fathers. This program compliments the classroom physical education program and helps to create awareness in parents of the importance of physical education in the early years. For more information, please visit www.sccoe.org/depts/headstart.

Santa Clara Family Health Foundation SCFHF believes that every child should be able to obtain age-appropriate health care services at a reasonable cost through affordable health insurance. The Sharks Foundation will help support the Healthy Kids insurance program, which provides affordable and comprehensive medical, dental, vision and mental health insurance coverage to over 13,000 otherwise uninsured children from low-income families in Santa Clara County. For more information, please visit www.healthykidsfund.org.

Silicon Valley Children’s Fund SVCF’s mission is to develop and support model programs, projects and services for the abused, neglected and abandoned children who come to the Silicon Valley Children’s Shelter. The Sharks Foundation funding will benefit their Kids First™ program, which includes both Art Education and Youth Education Scholarship (YES™) components. Children learn to express themselves, celebrate diversity, strengthen important developmental assets and relate their ability to produce amazing work and success in the classroom to their ability to overcome challenges and succeed in life. For more information, please visit www.svcf.org.

Silicon Valley Conference for Community Justice SVCCJ’s goal is to end bigotry, racism and exclusion in the Bay Area by empowering people of diverse backgrounds to build just communities where each person is treated with respect and understanding. The Sharks Foundation funding benefits their Camp Everytown program. An intensive youth leadership development program, Camp Everytown is a four day residential retreat for high school students that teaches respect and responsibility by breaking down stereotypes, biases and prejudice through highly interactive discussions, workshops, role-plays and shared experiences. For more information, please visit www.svccj.org.

Teach For America Bay Area The purpose of Teach For America is to build the movement to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting some of our nation’s most promising future leaders in the effort. The strategy involves building a corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors and backgrounds who commit two years to teach in the public schools. The Sharks Foundation grant is used to recruit, select, train and support those teachers in the San Jose area. For more information, please visit www.teachforamerica.org/supporters_bayarea.html.

The Role Model Program TRMP’s mission is to operate as an integral partner with the educational sector to empower at-risk elementary and middle school students to achieve academic excellence and positive life choices. The Sharks Foundation supports their Community Classroom Visit component, which matches caring adults from the community to students in need of hope and inspiration and who might not otherwise be exposed to the path to higher education. For more information, please visit www.therolemodelprogram.org.